Steelers A to Z: Entering 10th season, Miles Killebrew among best in game on special teams

Editor’s note: From now until reporting day to training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2025 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 12 and July 23. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

S MILES KILLEBREW

Experience/age: 10th season, 32

Contract status: $4.25 million cap hit in 2025, after which scheduled for unrestricted free agency

The past: Miles Killebrew has made it from Southern Utah University to a 10th NFL season by way of his skills on special teams. A three-time captain of the unit for the Steelers, Killebrew’s four career blocked punts are tied for the most by any active NFL player. He’s deflected a few more, and he has recorded 13 special-teams tackles during each of the past two seasons. Killebrew has missed only two games over the nine pro seasons he’s played but none of the 71 (including playoffs) since he joined the Steelers in 2021. Only four players currently on the Steelers roster have been with the franchise for a longer consecutive tenure than Killebrew, who initially signed a one-year deal with the team in March 2021, re-upped for two seasons a year later and signed another two-year contract last March.

Over his tenure with the Steelers, he by far leads the team in special-teams snaps played, finishing first or second each season. In 2024, he and Connor Heyward tied for the team lead with 303 special-teams snaps – 66.3% of the team total. Defensively, after appearing in 10% of the Steelers’ snaps on defense in 2023, Killebrew played just nine last season.

#Steelers Miles Killebrew with a BLOCK punt for a SAFETY‼️????#HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/sWGZbj5TIs

— The Athletes Plug (@TheAthletesPlug) October 8, 2023

2025 outlook: Barring injury, Killebrew almost assuredly again will be voted captain of the special teams unit. Due a salary of $3.2 million that could be saved off the 2025 salary cap if the Steelers chose to cut Killebrew, that they kept him is a sign of how valued his contributions are. Though barring injury to others, his time as a contributor on defense has likely ended, Killebrew still might pop up in goal-line packages. But that’s not how he’s made his name or makes his money. A 2023 first-team AP NFL All Pro and two-time reigning Pro Bowl honoree who’s respected in the locker room, Killebrew has the trust of the organization and his teammates.

Who knows if Killebrew shows this season that he deserves another contract that would take his NFL career into his mid-30s? But that he’s made it 10 seasons already shows what he means to a special teams unit.